Concept

The SSWM Toolbox, which is available online at www.sswm.info, is an integrated tool for capacity development at the local level, linking up sustainable sanitation, water management and agriculture. The Toolbox is particularly useful as a planning tool for local planners and as an implementation and teaching tool for NGOs, CBOs etc. It is also used as a comprehensive pool of information for leaders and decision makers; a ready-made training tool for international organisations; or just as learning tool for individuals (e.g. private sector) or students. It is also a meta-tool to link people to other existing tools from partners and an exchange platform bringing together actors from the water, sanitation and agricultural sector.

The overall feedback regarding this initiative has been exclusively positive. Uses of the website has been increasing steadily (currently over 3000 per week) and the Toolbox has recently won the International Water Association’s (IWA’s) Project Innovation Award for capacity development.

The next phase of the Toolbox comprises amongst other further Training-of-Trainers in order to enable collaborating organisations to use the Toolbox for their own capacity development initiatives and the development of Specific Topic Entry Pages (STEPs). These are pages embedded within the Toolbox designed as information pools and training supports for specific topics or regions.

The SSWM Toolbox has been developed with the contribution of many different partners from the sustainable sanitation, water, hygiene and IWRM sector under the aegis of seecon international gmbh. The development was also made possible through an important financial contribution of SDC and conceptual feedback from SDC key persons.

STEPs are a unique opportunity to use the SSWM Toolbox with it various user groups from the private, NGO and public sector as a platform to strengthening the business development capacity within the water management and sustainable sanitation sector Therefore, cewas, the SSWM Toolbox partners seecon international gmbh and are currently preparing the compilation of a STEP focusing on the support of using a business approach for successful implementation of SSWM initiatives.

Goals of the STEP

• To strengthen small- and middle-scaled actors from the private sector in order to reply to the increased demand for effective SSWM measures in a technically, environmentally, institutional as well as socially and financially sustainable way.
• To support civil society groups (e.g. NGOs and CBOs) and public institutions (including utilities) involved in water management and sustainable sanitation to adopt a business approach in order to provide technically, environmentally, institutional as well as socially and financially sustainable services.
• Supporting the creation for an enabling environment on institutional and regulatory level for a sound business development in the sector.